Does anyone else feel like this was the shortest summer ever? It seemed to fly by more quickly than any other. I don't know if this is just a part of getting older, or if it was due to being so busy. But, here we are. I thought it would be a great time to provide some updates here:
Travel: We were honored to be invited to the Leslie's Week retreat with other stage IV breast cancer survivors during the last week of July/first week of August. Our family enjoyed our time in the Smoky Mountains! I was thankful for my healthy body and its ability to hike so many miles with such big elevation gains with no problems at all. To be honest, the part of the retreat where we participated with other stage iv survivor families was tough. Several women seemed to be near the end of their journeys. I was hoping meeting with other survivors would be more hope-filled. But, in fact, it was the opposite for me. I was grateful to be able to escape to the mountains after the first day of the retreat to enjoy God's amazing artistry and creation. The air was fresh, the weather was wonderful, and moving my body felt so great!
Health: The day before our trip and boarding a plane I found out that the new drug my oncologist switched me to (Kisqali) had wiped out my immune system. I am only taking 200mg (normal dose is 600mg daily). So, they asked me to not resume until i got back into town and could get more bloodwork. When i returned, all my blood counts moved to the normal range, except my liver enzymes were highly elevated for the first time ever. We decided to wait an additional week to let my body recover. At last week's blood draw, my liver enzymes came down a little bit, but are still elevated. So, we are still keeping an eye on them.
An exciting thing is that I had my blood plasma level tested after my high dose vitamin C infusion last week. I love the clinic I use for these treatments, as they are so open and willing to work with me and my special requests. I had sent a study from the Riordan clinic to the doctor here. The Riordan clinuc is located in Kansas, and they are THE experts in high dose vitamin C in the US. At that clinic, they have discovered ultimate plasma levels for cancer patients to kill the tumors. I asked my local clinic if they had the ability to test my blood plasma level post-IV C. Can you believe they ordered a special testing kit from the Riordan clinic, drew my blood, and froze it and shipped it to the Riordan clinic overnight? Now I know that the level of vitamin C I am getting is the right amount--I don't need to increase the amount beyond the 50g I am getting. However, it would be ideal for me to try to get the infusions 2-3 times weekly. I am supplementing with high dose liposomal vitamin C on my off days from IV C to keep my plasma levels as high as possible. Anyway, I was so excited to get these results, as we were always guessing on what amount of IV C was the right amount for me. I tried to bump it up to 75g from 50g but my body just couldn't tolerate it. Now I know why.
Some other great news is that my cancer markers are going down. At my previous testing in June, my markers were higher than they have ever been: both CA15-3 and CA 27-29 were in the 100s. At my last Draw of the markers on August 8, they had shot down to 65.5 and 82, respectively. So, all exciting news! I actually still feel great, still am juicing daily and getting in good workouts every morning and 2 mile walks in the evenings. In addition, I am taking a ton of supplements and naltrexone.
We thank everyone for your continued prayers and support through this journey.
